Bank of England mortgage approvals September 2008.

New data out for August 2008 here.

The usual commentary really.

Mortgage approvals for house purchase were 32,000 for August 2007 compared to 108,000 in August 2008 down 70%.

These are the lowest ever mortgage approvals.

Just goes to show how reckless the lending was prior to the lenders adopting their old lending practices which include such crazy rules like-

checking incomes (barking mad)
capping borrowing at 4 times income (crazy tightness)
requiring a deposit (whatever next)
wanting to know how you intend repaying the mortgage (who thought that one up!)

If Gordon Brown wants lenders to lend again maybe he should mark all property down by another 20% and we can get on with sensible lending (see the 4 points above) on sensibly priced property.

If you are a first time buyer, your time is coming. Keep saving for your 5% deposit, because these deals will return in the later part of next year. House prices will be down another 15%, mortgage deals will be equivalent to rent and the housing market will start a steady climb from Q4 2009.

Good luck.